Hell's Still Loose
by BlackRaven
Summary: Set after Season 2. Sam and Dean have their hands full after the gates to hell opened and the war the yellow eyed demon promised is about to be unleashed.Will they be able to stop it in time? and could this be the key to saving Dean from his deal? DJ SOC
1. Prologue

**A/N already posted and then realised that I didn't put a disclaimer or anything... oops!**

**So here goes - I don't own anything, wish I did, just playing, I promise to return them in a fairly good condition although they might be slightly banged up - then again, this is supernatural so it isn't anything out of the ordinary! **

**I have a bad feeling about this story since it's already taken epic proportions in my head - meaning I have enough scenes for this story in my head to fill a medium length book - and that's never good and has a tendency to only get worse over time!**

**Plus, I'm going to be bringing Jo Harvelle into this story - I know not all people like her but I just love her and the actress that portrays here - Alona Tal rocks and she's from right here in Israel!!! I wich they'd bring her back on the show but since it looks like she's got a recurring role on another show i doubt it - and since the wirters of the show wouldn't do it - I figured I'd just do it myself and write her into my story!**

**So here goes! Please send me your reviews**

* * *

Dean craned his neck and took a glance over the dashboard of the Impala at the empty parking lot in front of him, before settling back down into the driver's seat. Still no sign of the demon, and the waiting game was starting to get old. 

"Come on already" He muttered to himself and settled more comfortably into his chair, reaching over to the passenger seat and checking his weapon of choice for the hundredth time: A large bottle of holy water and a gun - of course, shooting the demon was considered the last course of action since it was currently inhabiting a human innocent body - but it was good to have the thing just in case.

He picked up the gun and started fiddling with the gun, partly to chase away the boredom, but mostly just trying to keep himself awake.

The last few weeks had been long and excruciating. After that night at the cemetery, demonic activity had gone through the roof all over the country. He and Sam were barely catching up with these bastards and sleep was a rare commodity as of late.

They took Ellen back to what was left of the 'Roadhouse' about a week after the night at the cemetery and now she was busy gathering information and trying to re-build the bar. Now, more than ever, it was important for hunters to have a place where they could gather and share information.

Bobby Stayed with them for a while longer - Dean suspected it had something to do with wanting to keep an eye on them and make sure they were ok after the events of that night and the days leading up to it - until it was decided that they would be able to cover more ground if they split up and he left for his own hunt about a week before.

Which left just him and Sam.

And these days - that wasn't necessarily a good thing. With each passing day his younger brother was becoming more driven and determined to save him from that deal he made at the crossroads. His search for answers was quickly turning into a full blown obsession with every free moment spent gathering information and following leads to anything and everything that might be able to help him save Dean. The whole thing, coupled with those sad and guilty looks Sam kept sending his way whenever he thought Dean wasn't looking, was starting to make him seriously uncomfortably.

A movement caught his eye and jerked him back to the present situation. They had been tracking this demon for a week now. The thing had a nasty habit of leaving a trail of bodies in its wake - most of them belonging to his previous hosts, which made hunting the thing down even more difficult then usual. By the time they managed to figure out who the demon was possessing, all that was left was a body with it's throat slashed and traces of sulfur indicating the demon had already jumped into the next available body. One of the bodies belonged to a known demon hunter that used to be a regular at Ellen's bar, the others were just random people that stumbled into the demon's path.

The finally managed to track him down and follow him to this bar just off the main highway, on the outskirts of a small town called Aragon in Georgia. The only problem was that in order to be able to kill the damn thing without hurting the host, they had to get it isolated - which proved to be the tricky part.

Finally he watched as the door to the bar opened and the demon, possessing the body of a large and burly truck driver this time, came out and headed to his truck. A moment after the demon pulled out of the dusty parking lot, the passenger door opened and Sam came in from where he was standing watch by the back entrance and the two of them silently drove off, following the demon. The truck made its way into the quiet streets of the small town but turned before going too far into the more populated areas and headed down the street to what looked like a large empty warehouse of some sorts.

Sam and Dean exchanged a look, there was really no need to talk since they both knew they were thinking the same thing - this could be their chance to get the demon alone and finally get rid of the thing. They quickly got out of the Impala and followed the thing inside - careful to do so as quietly as possible. They crept behind a few crates and saw the demon kneeling in the middle of the warehouse, performing some kind of ritual, chanting in some unrecognizable language.

They split and started advancing closer to the demon when the thing suddenly stopped chanting "Sam and Dean Winchester!" It said in a cheerful tone without bothering to look back at them "I've been wondering how long it would be before I saw the two of you in person"

With a small flick of its wrist the demon sent both Sam and Dean flying across the room in opposite directions. Dean Felt pain shoot though his entire body as he hit a stack of wooden crates and fell hard to the concrete floor. A grunt from the other side of the room told him that Sam wasn't faring much better. He tried to stumble back to his feet as the demon got up and started heading towards him while moving his hand in Sam's direction - a movement that was followed by a yell and another crashing sound as Sam was tossed yet again. "I must tell you, this meeting couldn't have come at a better time for me. Eliminating you two is really going to help me in my little quest…"

He made another small movement with his hand and Dean felt his chest tighten all of the sudden as unimaginable unseen pressure was suddenly placed on his body "You boys really shouldn't be messing with things you know nothing about… didn't anyone ever tell you the story about how curiosity killed the cat?"

The demon crouched next to him with a smirk as he withered in pain on the floor and Dean used to opportunity of the demon's proximity to reach into his pocket and pull out a bottle of holy water, throwing it right in the demon's face, watching in satisfaction as the things pulled back and growled in pain.

He saw Sam run across the room and lunge at the demon as the pressure on his chest was suddenly lifted and he managed to gasp for breath once again. But the demon was stronger then they anticipated and recovered quickly, getting Sam off him and sending several punches into his abdomen before sending him skidding into the opposite wall. Dean started crawling to his gun which was lying on the floor a few feet away having been knocked out of his hand in the initial staged of the struggle, but the demon was on him before he could get to it. The demon's hands closed around his throat and started squeezing, cutting oxygen to his lungs and blood flow to his brain. He struggled but the demon pushed a knee into his back and pinned him down even harder, he could feel the blackness starting to envelope him and knew that he only had a few short moments before he would black out - and then it was game over.

Suddenly, he heard the demon grunt and it's grip around Dean's throat loosened. Seizing the opportunity, Dean pushed the demon off of him and turned around, expecting to see Sam standing there - instead he saw the all too familiar figure of a beautiful petite blond, in a pair of faded jeans and an old leather jacket, standing over the demon with an equally familiar bloody knife in her hands.

"Jo!?"

But the moment of hesitation and the two of them stared at each other was all the demon needed. In a split second both he and Jo were tossed across the room and the demon got up and ran out of the warehouse, clutching its injured shoulder.

Every bone in his body was screaming at him to stay down but he couldn't. Pushing through the pain, he got back to his feet as quickly as he could and grabbed his gun, glanced around to reassure himself that both Sam and Jo were ok and slowly getting back to their feet, and followed the demon.

He managed to get to the end of the street just in time to hear the tire screech of a car speeding away and nearly stumbled over the body of the man whom he just fought in the warehouse who was lying on the pavement, his shoulder still bleeding and his neck twisted in an odd angle.

Footsteps behind his alerted him to Sam's presence even before his younger brother appeared at his side, panting, clutching his ribs, and closely followed by Jo, who was bleeding from a cut on her forehead.

"Dean, what happened? Did you get it?"

"No!" Dean nearly yelled in frustration and kicked a nearby lamp post "That damn thing took someone else! Damn it!"


	2. Reinforcement

Dean left Sam to go over the demon's truck which was still parked outside the warehouse, trying to find anything that might have been left behind that would give them a clue as to the demon's plan, and went over to Jo who was sitting on the hood of his Impala. She looked a little different then he remembered but he couldn't really put his finger on what was different. Her blond hair was longer then he remembered, and although she as currently covered in dust and dirt from the struggle in the old warehouse, she looked more tanned then he remembered(which was to be expected since she no longer spent all her days serving beers inside a dark and dingy bar) – her eyes looked tiered and pained which he figured had something to do with her still bleeding forehead. Even through all the blood and dust that was currently covering her, she still looked as beautiful as he remembered – a thought he promptly pushed out of his mind as soon as it came.

He grabbed the first aid kit from his back seat and joined her, reaching out to push her blond hair from her forehead to assess the damage.

They had to hide the body and make sure to clear the warehouse of any trace of their presence as best they could. The FBI was still after them and finding bodies with traces of Dean or Sam's DNA on them wouldn't exactly be beneficial to their continued freedom. They worked as fast and efficiently as they could which left no chance of having any sort of conversation - a fact which he was secretly glad for. But he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up this strategy of avoidance for long.

"So Jo, what brings you to this lovely little town?" He asked as he poured some alcohol on a cotton swab and started cleaning the blood from her cut.

"It's good to see you too Dean" She replied dryly, fighting the urge to flinch at the sting of the swab "And really, there's no need to that me for saving your ass back there…"

She reached out to take the cotton swab from his hand and applied pressure to the wound herself, his closeness causing her discomfort. He noticed a large scar on her forearm which seemed to be several days old and was already healed "That looks like a painful souvenir…"

She shrugged "I was hunting this werewolf in North Dakota about a month ago, the thing had some nasty claws…"

"Seriously Jo" He decided to stop beating around the bush "What are you doing here?"

"I was hunting a ghost down in Florida a few weeks ago, went into this hunter's bar. There was this guy there telling some crazy story about a yellow eyed demon opening a gate to hell. I figured, yellow eyed demon, something this big, you and Sam are bound to be right smack in the middle of it. I thought maybe you guys could use a hand…"

"So you're just here to lend a hand?" Dean couldn't help but sound skeptic. It wasn't that he was deliberately trying to be difficult - it was just that his life experience taught him that if you didn't check a gift horse in the mouth, it usually came back and bit you in the ass - rotten teeth and all.

He was about to say something when Sam approached them, looking hesitant and uncomfortable, which Dean guesses had something to do with the last encounter between him and Jo which happened while his brother was possessed. "I found some maps of the area and this…" He showed them a small notebook, several of it's pages were filled with strange symbols.

Dean's phone rang and he stepped aside for a moment to answer it, leaving Jo and Sam huddled over the notebook.

"Sam what does all this mean?" Jo asked after a moment

"I don't know" Sam was somewhat relieved that she seemed to be ok with his presence, that she didn't seem to be holding a grudge over their less than pleasant last encounter "I recognize some of the symbols but I have no idea what it all means…"

"Yeah, well, that's not all the bad news we're getting today" Dean said ominously as he joined them again "Just talked to Bobby, last night and the night before there had been two more murders, one in Blakely and one in Greer South Carolina, slit throats, sulfur the whole shebang. One of the victims was a hunter - Danny Carson. He lived in Greer"

"That's impossible Dean! We've been following this demon the entire time - he was no where near those places…"

"Yeah well, something was, this doesn't feel right Sammy. It's no damn coincidence" Dean frowned "You sure you can't get anything out of this notebook?"

"Not really…"

"That demon was saying something about a quest Sammy, that doesn't sound so good…"

"I know that Dean, but I can't make heads or tails of this notebook in just two minutes…I need more time…"

"We don't have time Sam!" Dean replied angrily out of frustration, but Jo stepped in between the two of them before the argument could accelerate.

"Guys, I think I might know someone who could help."

The two of them looked at her, then back at eachother. Sam gave a little shrug as if saying 'why the hell not' and Dean rolled his eyes - he so didn't need Jo tagging along with them right now! But then again, it's not like he had any other bright ideas!

A few hours later the three of them pulled into the parking lot of the Georgia state university campus and climbed out of the Impala.

"This was your idea? The university?" Dean grumbled and the three of them made their way through the throngs of young students who were hurrying for early classes. Sam shot him a look but he ignored him and kept on "So who are we going to meet anyway? Some brainiac nutty professor like Ash?"

"Actually, Chris is a student here" Jo replied with a somewhat cryptic smile and led them to the building that housed the student dorms and up to the second floor. A few doors down the hall she stopped before a door filled with stickers and posters and banged loudly on it. When a few seconds passed and there was no movement on the other side of door Dean shrugged and started walking away mumbling "Well, time for plan B…"

Jo just shot him a look and banged on the door again, this time there was some rustling from inside the room and an angry voice yelled "Hold on God damn it! Hold on!"

Another moment and the door was opened by a scantly clad young girl, rubbing her eyes tiredly and yawning. She was at least a head shorter then Sam, with long brown hair reaching just bellow her shoulders and big hazel eyes. Her attire, which was causing Dean to ogle and leer and Sam to look away, aiming for some discretion, consisted of a pair of female boxer-shorts and a little tank top which left most of her midriff exposed and revealed a tattoo on her lower abdomen that looked like an old symbol or entwined letters. She leaned against the doorway and smiled at Jo ignoring the boys completely.

"Hey Chris" Jo smiled back "long night?"

"Always" the girl smirked then stepped forward and engulfed Jo in a big hug.

"You know, we're kind of in a hurry here…" Dean mumbled, braking up the reunion between the two girls and moving quickly to avoid the elbow Sam sent to his ribs to try and shut him up.

"So let me guess…" The girl eyed the two of them for the first time "You're on the trail of some big bad and you needed some help…"

"Maybe we shouldn't be discussing these things in the hall" Sam said softly indicating to several other students who were coming and going all around them.

Chris showed them inside and closed the door behind them. After the introductions were made (Chris referring to the two of them as "Jo's new sidekicks", which Sam could tell was not winning her any points with his brother) they filled the strange girl with all the information they had while she quickly moved around the room and pulled on some clothes. Finally, Sam pulled the notebook from his pocket and showed it to her.

She took the notebook from his outstretched hands, grabbed a pair of glasses from the desk and started flipping through the pages eagerly.

"Can you read this stuff?" Jo asked after a few minutes went by with nothing but 'humphs' and 'oomphs' coming from the other girl.

"Well, not exactly…"

"Great, we came here for nothing" Dean grumbled

"What I meant…" Chris corrected with a glare at his direction "is that this isn't exactly a language that you can read. It's demon language"

"Demon language?" Sam frowned

"You didn't really think that demons speak English did you?" She smiled "I can probably figure it out but I'm going to need everything you have on this demon plus a couple of hours in the library…"

"The library?" It was Dean's turn to frown

"Yeah Dean…you know those big places where all the books are…" Sam shot back and gave Chris and Jo an apologizing look, causing both girls to chuckle.


	3. Normal

"So you're really a hunter?" Sam asked as he and Chris walked across the campus, headed for the library.

"Don't look so surprised Sam" She chuckled back

"I'm sorry… I just…." Sam stuttered, trying but failing to hide his curiosity and astonishment "And you're also a student here?"

"Contrary to common belief, you can do both!"

"I guess so" He shrugged, earning another chuckle from her.

"I hunt on weekends, vacations, my summer brake gives a whole new meaning to the term 'girls gone wild' let me tell you. I maintain a good GPA so most of my professors look the other way if I miss a class or two here and there. Rest of the time, I do this - lend a hand to other hunters, help them figure out patterns, track down demons…"

"And you major in…"

"History and Theology" she replied, looking at him with an amused expression, she knew he'd figure it out pretty easily.

"Ah, so basically, you're studying demonology 101" he didn't disappoint

"Daddy always says 'the best weapons we have against the bastards is brains and knowledge. You can have every type of bullet in the world but if you don't know which one to use you're just going to be wasting ammunition" Her southern drawl became even more noticeable as she quoted her father.

"So you're dad is a hunter too?"

"Yeah, I'm actually third generation hunter" Chris explained "My granddad was the one started it after his family was killed by a demon when he was young. When my dad was old enough he went with him. He and my mom actually met while hunting for the same demon. By the time us kids grew up it was pretty much a given that we're gonna go into the family business…"

Sam chuckled and looked at her disbelievingly "I'm sorry, It's just… it all sounds so normal…"

"Normal? Obviously you've never heard some of the topics that pass for dinner conversation in my house! Trust me, normal it ain't! but then again, it's not like you can just go to sleep peacefully once you know the kind of things that really go bump in the night."

Sam remained quiet, thinking back to his days in law school - how he tried to put the past behind him, how he tried not to let his mind race to demons and ghosts every time he heard about a suspicious death or another student telling some popular urban legend. He tried so hard back then to bury his hand in the sand and pretend his previous life had never happened. Sometimes he wished he could do that again - have something that resembled a normal life, pretend that there wasn't really a boogey man out there trying to get him. Unfortunately, he didn't have that luxury anymore.

"We're here!" Chris announced and led him into the large building. She greeted several of the librarians warmly, all of whom seemed to know her, indicating that she must have spent a lot of time in there.

Soon the two of them were seated in a private study room with their computers powered up and a stack of old, dusty, books.

* * *

"So this girl is a hunter?" Dean asked as he paced around the small room, picking up random objects and playing with them, trying to hide his uneasiness at being left alone with her and in such a small room.

"Yeah, she is" Jo said testily and grabbed the small paper weight he was currently playing with from his hands' placing it back on the desk.

There was a long moment of silence, neither one of them knowing what to say next.

As the silence stretched, Dean started plotting out ways in which to kill his younger brother for leaving him alone with Jo, but if the smirk Sam gave him as he left the room was any indication - this was exactly his brother's intention.

"Jo, what are you even doing here?" Never one for patience, Dean finally snapped and asked the one question that had been nagging at him since the moment Jo appeared at the warehouse. "And don't give me that crap about wanting to help… the truth this time!"

She remained silent for a full minute and he started to think that she might not answer at all when she finally let out a big sigh and sat on the bed, looking at the floor and avoiding his eyes.

"It's been getting really bad out there the last couple of weeks Dean. New demons are popping out everywhere and even the ones who were already here are getting nastier and more brutal. The last couple of demons I hunted, they knew me… or at least, they knew my dad. He was the one who sent them down to hell the last time around. Last week a demon came after me on his own initiative. He was looking for me Dean, looking for payback. He said, since he couldn't kill my dad, he'd settle for sending his little girl to join him and give him a message…"

He shuddered involuntarily and immediately felt sorry for her. He remembered, all too well, the yellow eyed demon and the demon at the crossroads taunting him about his father - it wasn't an experience he wished on anyone.

He pushed his emotions and the memories from those nights aside and concentrated on the practical side of things "How did you even find us?"

"My mom Dean, how do you think?"

"So Ellen knows you're here…" He wanted to make sure, but the question made her smirk.

"You're still afraid of my mother?"

"Have you met your mother? Yeah I'm scared of her!"

It was easier pretending that his hesitation was due to fear. Truthfully, there was more to it then that. He respected Ellen, over time, and especially during the past few weeks as they maintained regular contact, she was the closest thing to a maternal influence he'd had in his life since his mother was killed - and he was adamant about doing anything in his power to remain in her good graces.

But not even his affection for Ellen was the real reason he didn't feel comfortable with Jo tagging along for this hunt. He knew that if she came along, sooner or later she would find out about the ticking clock hanging over his head, and for some reason, he didn't think he'd be able to handle her knowing.

Just then, the door burst open and Sam and Chris came in, stacks of papers and several books in their arms.

"Chris thinks she's got something…" Sam announced before the door was even closed behind them

"Well, I do, and most of it is bad news. I did a broader search and found all the deaths in the area that fit you're demon's MO. Those last two murders didn't fit your demon's pattern"

"We already figured out that much" Dean snarked ignoring Jo and Sam's looks

"Well, the reason they didn't fit is because your demon didn't kill these men. You're not chasing after one demon, you're chasing five of them…"


	4. The Hunt

"Five?" Jo tried to wrap her mind around what Chris just told them "Five demons working together?"

"Not exactly working together" Chris corrected and spread out a map of the area on the desk "All five demons seem to be heading in the same direction, closing in from all directions…"

"Great, a damned demon convention" Dean grumbled "What the hell are they after?"

"I'm still not sure about the why… the notebook says something about a war and a ritual, something about mastering your destiny - I need more time figuring it out"

"But we did get the where…" Sam finally came forward with the one piece of good news they managed to figure out "The notebook had a mention about the place of a religious utopia. Cross referencing that with the places in the area they seem to be headed to - and we figure they must be headed to this place…"

Sam pointed to an area on the map and Jo and Sam nearly butted heads as they leaned closed to examine the map.

"There's nothing there…" Jo said after a moment, seeing the empty zone on the map.

"There isn't now, but there used to be…" Sam said as he and Chris exchanged a triumphant smile. "There used to be a town here - Ebenezer Georgia, built by Austrian immigrants and abandoned by 1855. It's a ghost town. But a few of the old structures are still there. During it's golden era, the town was known for being a haven for religious refugees from all over the country. They used to say that god sent his angels to watch over Ebenezer so all those who believed in him would have a safe place to go to"

"Luckily for us, the demons seem to be taking their sweet time getting their and your demon was actually one of the closest" Chris informed them "For some reason they're stopping every now and again to switch hosts, kill a few people, you know, the usual demonic fun and games… if the pattern holds, it's going to take at least 4 or 5 days for them to get there…"

"So I guess we know where we're headed…" Jo summarized

"Wow, wow, wow" Dean raised his hands, trying to get some semblance of control over the situation "**We** are not going anywhere! This is our hunt - me and Sam, you girls…"

"Should what? Stay home and bake cookies?" Jo's glare was so angry that Sam actually took a step back, intent on dodging her wrath. Dean however, wasn't ready to back off so quickly.

"Look, this isn't your fight…"

"Like hell it isn't!" Jo shot back "We're coming, we're in this now, and don't even try to pull that amateur crap again! Chris isn't and amateur and neither am I anymore! Besides, not even you two are arrogant enough to think you can handle 5 demons at once! You need some help - and we're all you've got! So just give it a rest Dean!"

He tried to say something else but Jo simply turned her back on him, effectively ending the discussion. She glared as Sam's direction for a split moment, daring him to question her, but he just bowed his head – knowing that this was one argument he had no chance of wining.

20 minutes later, much to his dismay, Dean was leaning against the Impala next to his brother, watching as the girls loaded Chris's 1965 Ford Mustang with their bags and equipment.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Dena made one last ditch attempt as Chris passed by him, his voice laced with sarcasm "No big midterms? Papers you need to hand in?"

"Free as a bird actually" Chris shot back over her shoulder as she climbed into the driver's seat of her car and Dean nearly growled in frustration. This hunt was not going according to plan at all.

He straightened and headed over to the other side of the car for the driver's seat but stopped short when he noticed his brother wasn't moving. In fact, Sam was standing there looking at him with that angry glare on his face. "What?"

"What is wrong with you?" Sam's hushed voice didn't mask the irritation behind it.

"Nothing is wrong with me Sammy! I don't know what you're talking about" He shrugged and quickly climbed in behind the wheel, hoping to end the conversation that way – he should have known by now that this particular tactic had no affect on his brother.

"Yes you do Dean, you've been acting like a complete ass since the moment we got here! What's going on?" Sam got into the car and pressed on even as his brother ignored him and started the engine.

"It's nothing Sam, let it go…"

"No I won't let it go Dean, Jo and Chris have been nothing but helpful up until now, don't tell me you suddenly became all chauvinist on me…"

"It's had nothing to do with the fact that their women Sam, and I have nothing against Jo…" It was true, as much as he didn't like the fact that Jo was tagging along for the ride, he had no problem with her – she proved herself quit helpful the last time around, and he had to admit that anything she lacked in experience she made up for in pure determination and stubbornness.

"So it's Chris? What's wrong with her? She's done nothing but help…"

"Help!?" Dean cut him off "Come on Sam, we could have figured it out by ourselves…"

"Maybe" Sam insisted "But it still doesn't explain your behavior… She obviously knows what she's doing…"

"Oh come on!" Dean finally exploded, Sam's naiveté sending him off the wall "What does she know? What does she do? Hunt on weekends and spring brake? I don't know if you've noticed Sammy, but this isn't a job that you can do only half way. You can't treat this like a part time job – that kind of attitude is dangerous man. You take this job seriously or you get people killed – that's all there is to it!"

Sam remained silent as Dean finally put the car in gear and tore out of the parking lot with a load tire screech. He didn't bother checking if Chris and Jo were catching up behind them – the way he figured, if they couldn't keep up, they had no business being part of the hunt anyway.

* * *

Truth was, Ebenezer wasn't really all the far from Atlanta, less then a day drive on the main highway – then again, they weren't taking the main highway. Main highways had traffic and more importantly – patrol cars. Even if Sam and Dean weren't on the FBI's most wanted list – it was an old hunter code – you never take the main highway if you can help it and the least amount of contact you had with law enforcement officials – the better. So they took the back roads, which made the drive considerably longer, but considering Sam and Chris were both pretty sure that the demons wouldn't be getting to Ebenezer for at least a few more days – they had plenty of time to kill.

They stopped for lunch a few hours later at some undistinguished diner off the road. Dean watched as Sam sank into the vinyl covered booth and immediately opened his book, trying to get a few minutes of research time before the girls arrived and joined them. "Anything more about the reason for the demon convention we seem to be headed to?" Dean asked after a second, looking out the window he could see Chris's Mustang pull into the parking lot.

When Sam didn't immediately answer he turned to him, noticing how his brother wouldn't look up from his book, how his cheeks suddenly took on a reddish color – and he immediately understood. "You're working on the crossroad's demon aren't you? You're working on my deal…" he asked accusingly reaching out and snatching the book from his brother's hand who immediately tried snatching it back from him.

"Yes Dean, I am, I've got some new books from Chris. The answer might be in here…"

"Sam you've got to stop this!" Dean insisted, irritated. "The demon was clear about it – I do anything to go back on the deal and she takes you…That's not going to happen Sammy!"

"Maybe it should happen Dean!" Sam lowered his voice so the girls who just entered the diner and were, thankfully, taking their time getting to the table, wouldn't hear the conversation "I was dead, Jake killed me! You were still alive – maybe that's the way things were supposed to be!"

"Maybe it was, but it's not the way things are anymore! I made a deal! I saved you, and I'm never going to be sorry for that! Not for a second! So just let it rest!"

Sam reached over the table angrily for his book, and this time Dean allowed him to take it back. He was tiered, tiered of repeating this same argument with his brother, tiered of making the same speech over and over again with no results. A part of him understood his younger brother's desire to try and save him – after all, it was that very same desire that brought them to this situation in the first place. But he couldn't let Sam do anything that would make the crossroad demon go back on her deal.

The girls came over and joined them, and Sam shot Dean a warning look, knowing his brother so well that he was willing to bet the man was about to make some offensive wisecrack about the girl's driving skills.

Chris completely ignored Dean and headed straight for Sam, talking to him without even acknowledging his brother's presence "I think I figured out why these bastards are stalling!" She announced "Jo drove the last hour or so, I did some research, I checked the towns we know for a fact the five demons have passed through, trying to find any connection that would help us figure out what the hell they're looking for…"

"And you found something?"

"almost every town the demons stopped in there were reports of some kind of disturbance in the cemetery around the exact same time."

"And what's the connection to Ebenezer?" Dean asked even though Chris hadn't so much as looked in his direction since she joined them

"After the town was abandoned the families from Ebenezer all moved to other towns in the area… and all of them were buried in the cemeteries that the demons visited"

"That's all nice and interesting Chris" Dean couldn't help but flash her his famous smile, the one the he used when he was faking being charming, and he could see Sam groan as he recognize it "But I don't see how that really help us"

"It helps because there are two more cemeteries the demons haven't visited yet" Jo said patiently, figuring that letting Chris and Dean go further into their verbal sparring would only lead to trouble "One of them is just an hour away from here and in your demon's path. We figure it's more then a little likely he's going to make a little stop there tonight!"


	5. Trapped

The cemetery was dark and creepy, as cemeteries usually are at night. Dean tried not to think about the fact the he spent about the same amount of time in cemeteries as normal people his age spent in the mall or about the fact that pretty soon he'd be able to claim a new Guinness title – the guy who visited every single cemetery in the united state of America. He really needed to check if there was a category for that kind of thing.

He was currently hiding behind a large tomb stone, waiting for the demon to show. From his hiding place he could see Sam peeking out every now and then from behind the statue he was using as cover.

It took some arguing, but he finally managed to convince the others that it would be best if Jo and Chris took the rear position and hid in one of the large mausoleums, to flank the demon's escape route in case he got away from Sam and Dean, which Dean had no intention of letting happen. In fact he had no intention of letting the girls take any part in the demon's capture beyond what was absolutely necessary.

He checked his watch again and sighed. It was a little past 2 am and still no sign of their demon – it was really a shame that demons didn't have the sense of decency to operate on normal hours – it was really wrecking havoc on his sleeping pattern.

Finally, after another 30 minutes, just as he was about to call it a night and go vent his frustration on Chris for being wrong, he heard the rustling of branches and saw someone come into view through the underbrush that surrounded this part of the old cemetery. The figure made it's way between the headstones, a large duffle bag slung over it's right shoulder. He risked exposure for just a second and leaned out further from behind his hiding spot to look as the demon stopped in front of the tomb stone belonging to the former resident of Ebenezer and took out a shovel from the duffle bag, calmly starting to dig in the ground just below the stone marker.

He edged closer but froze, feeling his heart sink when the demon paused and looked around for a moment. For just a second, he feared the demon might have heard him, but the thing resumed his digging after a moment and Dean was careful to time his movements with the sounds of the shovel from then on.

A few more steps and he was in position. A quick glance at the other direction confirmed that so was Sam. It was time to do this.

On Dean's cure the two of them rose and rushed at the demon from both sides. Sam fired a shot of rock salt at the demon's leg (obviously, rock salt didn't work on demons like it did on ghosts but it had the benefit of being non-lethal to the human host as well as hurting like a son of a bitch.) making it loose its balance, giving Dean the opportunity to get close enough to pure holy water on it - making the thing sizzle and scream.

But the demon recovered quickly - he grabbed Dean's leg and pulled him to the ground, hard. By the time Sam to them the demon was back on it's feet and gave Sam a powerful kick that sent him crashing into a tomb stone. Dean kicked the demon in the knee cap and heard the bones crack under his boot, sending the thing tumbling to the floor yet again, howling in pain. But he knew it would only buy him a small window of time. If Meg was able to walk around after falling from a 7 story window, there was no doubt this thing would still be able to come after them even with a broken knee cap.

He managed to get to his brother and help him up just as the demon rose to his own feet.

"Sam run!" He ordered and the two of them started running away from the demon and further into the cemetery. Glancing back he could see the demon raise his hand as he ran after them and a nearby tomb stone was pulled from the ground and come flying only inches from their heads.

They continued running but the demon was gaining on them fast.

"Over there" Sam pointed at a nearby mausoleum and the two of them veered right and dashed into the stone structure, closing the metal doors behind him.

"What happened?" Jo and Chris who had been hiding out inside rushed over and helped them lean against the doors for leverage.

Before they could answer, all four of them were tossed aside by the force of the doors busting open as the demon stepped inside the mausoleum.

"Well, well, well, what have we got here?" It said gleefully as he surveyed the four of them sprawled on the floor, struggling to get to their feet "It looks like I finally got you…"

"Actually" Dean paused to spit out the blood that filled his mouth "We're the ones who got you!"

Dean glanced up and smirked. The demon followed his gaze and the look on it's face was nothing short of priceless as he saw the Solomon's circle painted on the ceiling of the mausoleum.

"Welcome to our demon trap!"

* * *

**10 Minutes later**

"So, how are you? Comfortable in there buddy?" Dean smirked from his place leaning against the wall of the mausoleum, but the demon simply looked at him with a pissed off expression.

They locked eyes and for a moment it was like that children's game, where the goal was not to look away.

"Dean!" Jo smacked him across the chest to get his attention and he flinched as she hit a tender spot that was still sore from the previous fight "Whatever we're going to do we need to start doing it. It's going to be daylight soon…"

What are we going to do with this thing?" Chris asked from her place on the other side of the mausoleum where she was busy tending to some of Sam's cuts and bruises.

"We're going to get some answers, that's what we're going to do" Dean informed them "Sam crack open those books of yours. I'm betting we start really hurting this thing it's going to start singing all kind of tunes…"

Sam nodded and the four of them began preparing the ritual. Pretty soon the candles were lit all around the demon and Chris, Jo and Sam took their positions and started chanting. Dean paced around the outer circle with a bottle of holy water - throwing some at the demon every now and then, watching the smoke come out of it's body as it screamed in pain. Finally when he thought the demon had enough he raised his hand and the others stopped their chanting.

"Tell us what the plan is… we know you're headed for Ebenezer…what are you looking for?"

"I'm surprised at you Dean Winchester" The demon smirked "I thought you'd be making better use of your time…"

"The plan scumbag… tell us the plan…" Dean cut him off before he could say anything else, and threw an nervous glance at Jo's direction.

"The king shall come and so shall his armies. Chaos, rage and pestilence shall sweep over the plague that was once humanity…" The demon began reciting, his voice changing from normal human voice to the deep demon's tone "You're all going to die…"

"Yes we are…" Dean cut him off again. He'd had enough of demons doom's day speeches for one lifetime "But not today. Today, you're the one about ot die, so tell me what I need to know…"

The demon hissed and screamed as Dean splashed him with holy water again, then continued to growl and thrash on the floor as the others began chanting again.

They kept at it for hours, throwing holy water, asking questions, chanting until their voices got hoarse and their throats were scratchy. Other then a few ramblings that didn't make any sense to either one of them, the demon refused to give them anything. Day light was just a couple of hours away and they were running out of time.

Dean motioned for Sam to step away for a moment and the two of them went aside while the girls continued the ritual.

"We're running out of time here Sammy and this Q & A thing isn't working"

"So what do you want to do?"

"I'm thinking we exorcize the son of a bitch, the guy he's in might be able to give us at least some of the information we need. You know, like Meg did…"

"Dean, Meg was possessed by that thing for more than a year, this guy had only been taken a few days ago, he might not remember anything at all…"

"Well we're not getting anything out of the demon, so I say we take out chances. At least we'll be dealing with a human being…"

Sam nodded his agreement and the two of them took their positions around the circle again.

"Ok" Dean announced "Time for the fat lady to sing. Let's do this thing…"

The others nodded and began chanting the final section of the ritual. Soon the demon was thrashing on the floor again, until finally he threw his head back and opened it's mouth allowing the cloud of black smoke to come out from both mouth and nostrils, shooting to the ceiling where it dissipated a moment later.

The man in the center of the circle groaned and fell backwards, collapsing to the floor and coughing wildly. In an instant, Jo and Sam were by his side, supporting him.

"Dean we need to get this guy to the hospital!" Sam said as the man coughed again, this time sputtering blood, before loosing consciousness "Sir, you're going to be ok, everything is going to be fine…"


	6. Down time

**Sorry for the long wait - life kind of caught up with me and even though I had the chapters already written and ready I didn't even have time to sit and upload them! **

**But... in order to make up for it I'm actually uploading two chapters at once now so I hope you'll forgive me! And please send me reviews and tell me what you think!**

* * *

They made sure the man, whose name turned out to be John Billson, got to the hospital. Dean and Sam, being wanted fugitives and all, stayed in the parking lot, while the girls helped the man into the ER, where they were told it would be several hours before he'd be stable enough to talk to them again. They finally decided to crash into yet another cheap motel and try resting for a few hours while they waited.

Every bone and muscle in Dean's body was screaming to be put into a bad and be given some rest but his mind was racing in a hundred different directions and he found himself pacing the length of the room over and over again.

Apparently he wasn't the only one having trouble sleeping because 20 minutes into his indoor jogging session Sam announced he was going out to get some food, and about 10 minutes after he left there was a hesitant knock on the door and Jo let herself in.

"I called the hospital again. No change yet, they said they'd call us as soon as we can come back and talk to him"

He nodded and the two of them were silent for a long moment.

"It went good tonight, You did good…" He offered and nearly kicked himself for sounding so lame. He never had much trouble talking to girls, in fact, he prided himself on being able to talk to random girls into just about anything. But Jo wasn't just some random girl. He figured maybe it had something to do with the timing of their first meeting. Back then when he was still reeling from his father's death, when everything inside him was so painful he felt like screaming every time he drew breath. He remembered sitting there in the roadhouse, talking to her, her soft sad smile as she told him about her own father's death. He remembered looking at her and realizing that she knew how he felt - really knew, and not just pretended. And somehow, seeing her, watching her walking and talking and even smiling - made it easier, gave him some hope that one day the pain would somehow become manageable.

"Hey Dean, what did the demon mean, about you making better use of your time?"

He froze for a second but recovered quickly and plastered on his most nonchalant face "Hell if I know. You know these bastards, once they get started there's no telling what crazy things come out of their mouths"

It was a lame cover and had Jo been watching him more closely as he said it - she would have been able to see right through his charade, but her mind was on other things - more accurately - her encounter with evil-Sam (as she called it).

"Dean, do you see me as a sister?" She blurted out before she could remind herself the hundred different reasons why she shouldn't be starting this conversation.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Nothing… nothing…" She tried to back paddle quickly but he was still looking at her with that confused look which was so damn adorable. After a quick internal debate she decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it "Just something Sam said, while he was possessed…"

"Sam? The two of you talked about me while he was possessed?" Dean felt utterly confused. He never really asked Sam or Jo what happened that night before he got there. Sam was back, the demon was gone, Jo was alive and unharmed - he figured why dig into it too much. Now he wished he had. "What did he say? How did you even get to talking about me?"

"He said that I was carrying a torch for you" She said quietly, looking him straight in the eye to gouge his reaction.

"Well you know…" He stammered, surprised by her frankness "It's like I said, crazy talk to mess with your mind…"

"He wasn't messing with my mind Dean" She chuckled "He was right…"

She smiled at the look on his face, like a deer caught in the headlights, then rose to her feet and approached him. She couldn't decide whether the fact he didn't move to get away was a good sign or not but soon she was standing right in front of him, close enough to feel his rugged breath on her face. She reached out and placed her palm against his cheek and he leaned into her touch, ever so slightly.

He stayed still as she leaned in and pressed her lips against his. He could feel his body respond to her and the urge to grab her and pull her even closer to him took over and he placed his hands on her waist.

He knew he should put a stop to it. He was living on borrowed time and starting something like this wasn't fair to Jo, the last thing he wanted was to become another man who would die and leave her like her father.

"Jo" He managed to whisper into her mouth "We shouldn't be doing this…"

"Why?" she whispered back but didn't step away from him.

"Because if we started this I'm not going to be able to stop…"

She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his neck "Then don't stop…"

She leaned in a kissed him again, this time more hungrily. The taste of her mouth, the feel of her tongue exploring his mouth, chased away any self control he had left. He grabbed her waist and pulled her to him, pressing their bodies together, pulling her over to the bed.

* * *

"Hey Sam" Chris joined Sam who was sitting in one of the plastic lounge chairs by the hotel pool. 

"I guess we shouldn't have wasted the money on motel rooms, no one is really sleeping" He chuckled

"What are you doing out here?"

"I saw Jo go into our room a few minutes ago, I thought I'd give her and Dean some time…"

"You're a good brother Sam" She smiled at him and settled down into a chair next to him, wrapping her jacket more tightly around her.

"I guess I'd just like him to have something normal you know? For when this is all over, for when we win…"

"Over?" She chuckled "You really think this is all going to be over someday?"

"Of course. Don't you?" He frowned

"I don't know, not really. I mean, don't get me wrong, we're definitely going to kick some demon ass this time… but it's never going to really end. The way I see it, this isn't about winning really. It's not even about getting rid of every demon and ghost in the world"

He thought about her words for a little while. He'd been going on for so long thinking that some day he'd just go back to his normal life, that after the yellow eyed demon would be gone he would just step away from it all. Back then, it was the only thing that kept him going some days, and so he clung to that thought with all his might.

And then they managed to kill the yellow eyed demon and he found out about Dean's deal - and he knew that he couldn't leave this world behind - not until he found a way to save his brother. But he often wondered what would happen after that - after he'd save Dean from his deal - would he really be able to leave this life behind and go have a normal life? Was there even such a thing for him anymore?

"Then what is it about?" He finally asked

"Think about it Sam, there's always been good and evil in the world, and let's face it, humanity hasn't exactly had the best track record with ultimate good either. I think maybe it's about balance - trying to keep the playing field even. They do something bad we do something good to even the score. That way, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter if we win. It's the fact that we tried that balances the scale…"

He frowned at her, feeling anger rise in his chest "How can you say that? It doesn't matter if we win? You can't just look at this like it's all just a numbers game! People are dying! You can't just go around saying this life is worth that much, and that life is worth this much - trading one life for another as long as the scales are even at the end… How can you do that?"

He could see that she was taken aback by his outburst, physically recoiling at the harshness of his words. After almost two days she was used to that kind of attitude from Dean, but hearing Sam take that tone with her was a complete shock. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you" she stammered and quickly got up from her chair "I'll leave you alone"

He heard the sound of her retreating steps and the sound of the door to her room closing behind her and took a deep breath to calm himself. He regretted his outburst almost immediately, knowing that he shouldn't have taken out his frustrations on her. After another moment he got up and followed her.

"I'm sorry Chris" He apologized as soon as she opened to door "I didn't mean to yell at you. Actually, I could use your help with something. It's about Dean, but you can't tell him that I asked you…"

She studied him for a long moment. Finally she nodded and allowed him in.


	7. Wake up call

They must have fallen asleep somewhere along the line because when he woke up she was still wrapped in his arms and the two of them were still mostly clothed. I his drowsiness, he allowed himself a moment to enjoy this – waking up with a beautiful girl in his arms was something that regrettably didn't happen too often, and even considered going back into blissful sleep, until the frantic banging on the door, which he realized was what woke him up in the first place, erased all thoughts of sleep from his mind.

He bolted out of the bed and hurried over to open the door where he found Chris looking frantic and frightened.

"It's Sam" was all she said and Dean rushed out to the other room, not even bothering to put on his shirt or shoes.

He found Sam curled up on the floor, writhing in pain and clutching his head and immediately rushed to his side. They thought it was over - the visions. Sam hadn't had one ever since that night in the cemetery and since the visions had always been connected to the demon they simply thought that Sam's special abilities died along with the demon.

Apparently they were wrong.

"One minute he was fine and then he just went down and started screaming…" Chris was standing at the doorway, obviously distraught, but Dean ignored her and focused on his brother.

"Sam… Sammy… look at me man, come on, I need you to look at me…" But Sam simply groaned again.

_He was standing in a dark room that smelled of dust and oak and another scent he couldn't quite put his finger on, and he wasn't alone. There were men all around him and even though he couldn't see their faces he knew that they weren't really men._

_He watched in horror as they formed a circle around him, chanting something in a language he couldn't understand. Even though he couldn't understand the words he could feel his gut twisting with dread. Something bad was going to happen - he could feel it in his blood. _

_The chanting continued but now, as if out of nowhere, a knife appeared in each on of their hands. They moved in terrifying unison, as if their movements had been choreographed, like a dance that had been planned and rehearsed. _

_The canting stopped abruptly and they each lifted the knifes to their throats… The blood that came oozing from their necks was the brightest shade of red he'd even seen, the metallic taste of copper was so real in his mouth that he almost gagged… he fought for breath and tried to scream…_

Sam shook out of his vision with a blood curling scream and grabbed the first thing within his reach which just happened to be Dean's arms. He felt blood coming out of his nose and reached over to wipe it off.

"Hey, hey Sammy… it's ok… you're ok…" Dean soothed him. He helped Sam get up from the floor and sat him on the bed

"Dean? What's going on?" Jo's worried voice came from the door

"Not now!" Dean said rather rudely, but the only thing on his mind at the moment was making sure that his brother was ok. It was his fault. He let himself go - forgot his responsibility and allowed himself the indulgence of being with Jo, and now his brother was in pain. He should have never let him out of his sight, he should have never assumed that just because the yellow eyed demon was gone that Sam would be safe.

"What did you see Sammy? What was it?"

"The ritual…" Sam panted, still clutching his head, trying to fight through the pain "They cut their own throats… there was blood everywhere…"

Dean heard a phone ring in the background and something that sounded like Chris's voice as she answered it, but kept his focus strictly on his brother.

"Dean, there was something about that ritual…it was powerful, more powerful then anything I've ever felt…"

"It's ok Sammy. Don't worry, we're going to stop it…" Dean assured him.

"The hospital just called" Chris announced from her place by the door "Mr. Billson is awake…"

Dean looked at his brother for another long moment until Sam finally nodded, indicating he's ok, then straightened up and addressed the girls "Pack up. We're going to the hospital and then getting out of this town…"

He passed by Jo as he headed out of the room but didn't say anything or acknowledged what happened between them in any way - he couldn't. He had a responsibility to his brother and he couldn't afford to let anything distract him. What ever the yellow eyed demon had planned for his brother it obviously wasn't over yet - and even if it was the last thing he did - he was going to make sure that his brother was safe before he died.

* * *

In spite of Dean's rather adamant protest, it was finally decided that both he and Sam would stay in the car while the girls went in and talked to Billson. Being as the man was brought into the ER wounded, after walking out of his house and disappearing for two days, they figured it was a pretty safe bet that there would be some kind of police involvement. That, coupled with the fact that Sam was still nursing one hell of a headache and looking kind of green around the gills meant that the two of them were staying as far away from the hospital as possible.

Dean hated this. He hated sitting back and letting others do the field work for him and especially today - since sitting back today meant he was stuck in a car with his brother. And if he knew his brother, which he did, that would lead to some intense grilling about what happened with Jo.

It took Sam about twenty minutes to get to it, all the while he sneaked sideway glances at his brother while he thought Dean wasn't looking, but finally the moment Dean dreaded arrived.

"So… what happened with you and Jo?" Sam was trying to sound nonchalant but he couldn't hide the hidden smirk in his voice.

"Nothing Sasquach! Let it go!" Dean said testily and turned on the music in an attempt to avoid the conversation.

"Come on! I saw her walk into our room, the two of you were in there for hours…" When Dean didn't respond he kept going, this time not even bothering to hide his smirk "I'm just looking out for you Dean…"

"Shut up Sammy!" Dean threw his brother a glare that could melt ice "I mean it!"

There was a long pause while Sam considered his options. He could keep pressing Dean for answers but it was more than likely that his brother would just shut down and avoid the issue.

"Fine, I'll drop it." Sam finally relented "Jerk"

"Bitch" came the almost automatic response and Sam had to smile.

Five minutes later the elevator to the parking lot opened and Jo and Chris got out and hurried over to the car.

"What did you find?" Dean asked as soon as they settled down in the back seat.

"Drive!" Jo said and the tone of her voice was all the prompting Dean needed. Within a minute the Impala was speeding out of the parking lot and heading down the road.

"What happened?" Sam turned around in his seat as soon as they were a safe distance away.

"The place was crawling with cops and FBI. Apparently, they figured out that some of these murders and disappearances are connected and there's a full investigation under way." Jo informed them.

"Damn it!" Dean slammed his fist against the steering wheel.

"Relax, Billson didn't even recognize us! There's no way he could have given them your description…" Chris assured him, but Dean wasn't really listening anymore.

"Yeah, well I say we get out of dodge as fast as we can anyway. Just to be safe"

They dropped the girls off by Chris's car, then took two different routs, using every back road available, to get out of town as fast as they could. Dean drove and kept one eye on the rearview mirror to make sure no one was following as Sam navigated and kept on the phone with the girls in the other car to make sure they were ok too. 20 minutes after they passed the city limits Dean saw Chris's Mustang pull up behind them but kept on driving for another hour just to be safe.

Later, when he stopped to think about it, he couldn't help but be proud of all of them. Somehow, even though they hadn't known each other long, they managed to operate like a well oiled machine. He took the lead and they fell in line without question. Nobody challenged his decision to leave, no one lingered or caused any delays, nobody tried to convince him to stop even well after they left the small town behind them, They kept driving until Dean gave the word, until he decided it was safe enough for all of them, they trusted each other without question - and somehow, amidst all the craziness of the past 48 hours, that knowledge gave him some small amount of confidence.

They finally decided to meet at a nearby rest stop to re-group. Dean insisted on making one last de-tour to make sure they weren't being followed or ambushed, but once he was satisfied that it was safe the two cars pulled into the rest stop and the four occupants calmly exited their cars and headed for the diner.

"Well that certainly got my blood pumping" Chris commented dryly as they headed for their table, attempting to relieve some of the tension, but her attempt at humor only earned her a glare from Dean and a half smile from Jo and Sam.

Dean maneuvered himself so he could take the seat beside his brother, instead of beside Jo, and ignored the hurt look she sent his way as he did so "So? Did you girls get anything at the hospital?" he launched right into the matter at hand, avoiding meeting Jo's eyes.

The girls exchanged a triumphant smile and nodded.

"Yes we did! And it was a thing of beauty let me tell you…" Chris smirked, ignoring the way Dean rolled his eyes at her gloating "Billson didn't even recognize us and we couldn't exactly tell him that he was possessed by a demon with all those cops around…"

"So…" Sam prompted

"So Jo walks in and tells him that we're undercover DEA agents and that we think he was drugged!" Chris chuckled

"It was easy!" Jo shrugged, her smile as broad as Chris's, but it visibly dimmed as soon as she glanced up and looked at Dean who was still avoiding her eyes "The guy had so many cops going in and out of his room he didn't even ask for our badges. We told him we were investigating a string of cases where people were dosed with hallucinogenic drugs and that we needed to know exactly what he remembered from his experience in order to determine what kind of drugs were used"

Sam nodded and smiled, conveying his appreciation at the clever rouse but Dean just fidgeted restlessly in his seat, anxious to get to the real information as soon as possible, until Chris finally rolled her eyes at him and gave him what he wanted.

"He said that he remembered looking for something, like it was the most important thing in the world. Some kind of cup or goblet that he thought was buried…"

"Hold on… did you say a goblet?" Sam stopped her as something occurred to him, while quickly pulling out his laptop "Could it be like a chalice?"

When she nodded he pressed a few keys then turned the screen around for the others to see "It ran into this when I was doing research on Ebenezer. It's used to be a sacred object - no one knows when it was forged but by the 16th century it was confiscated by the church and hidden away in an undisclosed location, but the rumor was that the location was Salzburg Austria."

"Which is where the people of Ebenezer were originally from" Chris realized from her own research on the town.

"Exactly. And remember the notebook? it said something about mastering your destiny? Well this goblet was called "The Chalice of destiny""

"God, these guys were really bad at naming things weren't they?" Dean grumbled "I mean, Chalice of destiny? It's kind of obvious isn't it?"

The others chuckled

"So what does this chalice do?" Jo asked, pulling the lap top over and scrolling down the page, but Sam just shook his head, having no answers to give her. "Well, whatever it is we better figure it out fast because Billson said something about the solstice, which is on June 24th, which is in 2 days."

"And just to add another happy thought" Chris said gravely "mythically speaking the solstice is known as a demonically empowering day, meaning all demonic powers get an extra boost on that night."

"She's right!" Sam shot Dean a meaningful look that told his brother this was exactly what he saw in his vision. "What ever ritual these demons are planning it must be something really powerful."

"So what do we do now?" the question came from Jo but it was on all their minds.

"I say we panic" Chris mumbled under her breath and when the others looked at her funny she shrugged "but that's just me…"

"We go to Ebenezer" Dean finally concluded, once again taking the lead "we have a few days before they get there. We settle in, we scope the place out and we get ready for them…"


	8. Ghost towns

They arrived at Ebenezer late in the afternoon after Dean insisted on taking every back road on the map and marking several more de-tours in order to throw off anyone who might still be following them. It didn't matter that there was no sign of the cops – he still felt uneasy about the whole thing. He had no intention of spending the last few months of his life locked up in some prison.

Truth be told, there wasn't much of a town left. Most of the buildings were long gone, the land on which they once stood reclaimed by the forest. The few wooden structures that were still partially standing were severely run down, some of them missing their roofs or entire walls. The small town school and the church were the only two structures that were still somewhat eligible to be called buildings, though nature and neglect certainly took their toll on them too. The school was mostly empty except for several small tables and chairs. The chalk board was broken, half of it lying on the floor in several pieces, and everything was covered in a thick layer of dust that seemed to have gone undisturbed for years. The painted glass windows in the church were wither broken or stolen a long time ago and so were pieces of the alter. The plants in the small garden that surrounded the church were growing wild, covering the walls and the small metal fence as if trying to brake out of their prison.

"Well, I don't see anything here" Dean concluded once they all met back out side the church after scouring the small town for over an hour "What's so special about this place that they need to do the ritual here of all places?"

"Maybe it's a symbolic thing" Jo shrugged "This place was supposed to be some kind of religious haven, a utopia where everyone was safe to worship…" but her tone indicated she wasn't really convinced herself.

At that moment Sam veered away and headed over to the small iron gate that let to the church, kneeling beside it and examining it carefully "You may be on to something…"

"I am?" Jo asked with evident surprise in her voice

"She is?" Dean added, aiming for "funny" – but the death glares he got from both Jo and Chris told him his attempt at humor failed miserably.

Sam motioned them closer and they all huddled in and examined the object he was currently pointing at – a delicate detailed engraving on the metal gate.

"Yeah, I've seen that symbol on a few of the houses on the other side of town" Dean recognized it "Maybe it's the town emblem or something…"

"It's a cipher" Sam correcting, fighting the urge to roll his eyes at his older brother "A protection against demons cipher. All the houses with this symbol were on the outer edges of the town weren't they?" Once Dean nodded to indicate that it was in fact true, Sam continued his explanation "The church was in the center of the town. It's a circle of protection, the outer buildings have the symbol and provide the outer circle and the church which is also a sacred place is linked to all of them through this symbol and provides the anchor"

"This town wasn't just a religious haven" Chris realized "It was a demon free zone!"

"But still, why come all the way out here?" Dean still didn't get it, and by the annoyed looks everyone were giving him, he was the only one still in the dark

"This town was demon free for god knows how long, it's a pretty good guess that a demon hasn't stepped foot in this place for decades… add the church into it and it doesn't get any closer to sacred ground than this" Jo explained

"So what's the plan? I mean, do we even have one?" Sam asked, looking at his older brother

"Not yet" Dean flashed his trademark grin, trying to ease everyone's worried "but we still have some time before the circus get to town, I'm sure we can come up with something till then"

From the looks in their faces he could tell that the others were far from convinced.

* * *

After another tour of the abandoned ghost town the four of them headed out and booked rooms in a little motel down the highway – close to the action but not too close as to draw attention to their presence. It had been a night and an even longer day – running from the feds in the morning and scouring ghost towns for demonic signs in the afternoon – exhaustion and sleep deprivation were starting to catch up to all of them.

Dean was so tiered; he could feel the heaviness in his bones. He could tell that his younger brother was barely keeping his eyes open as they unloaded their stuff from the car and the girls weren't doing much better – practically falling asleep on their feet as they went about salting the windows and doors – standard procedure to protect them from a demon attack while they slept. He sneaked a few glances at Jo, but either she was too tiered to notice or too angry to care, because she never glanced back.

Finally, after about 20 more minutes, there was nothing more to do – and Dean walked into the small room, slamming the door behind him, and fell head first into the bed. He didn't bother taking his cloths off, and barely managed to kick his boots off, before darkness fell on him and the blessed sleep he'd been craving all day took over him.

As it turns out he slept for 7 full hours and only woke up when he heard Sam come out of the shower. He blinked tiredly at his brother, trying to re-boot his brain and remember where he was and what he was doing. It wasn't a rarity that he woke up with out remembering that kind of stuff. Moving around as much and he and Sam did – it was kind of hard to keep track.

"Ebenezer Georgia, ritual, chalice with a really bad name" Sam quipped while drying his hair, recognizing the dumbfumbled look on his brother's face.

"Right, thanks" Dean grunted and headed for the shower him self, figuring some hot water were exactly what he needed to snap out of this daze.

He didn't know how long he stayed under the hot spray but by the time he dressed and came out the girls were already there. Jo was standing by the small table, pulling out beers and food from large bags and placing them on the table, swatting Sam's hand away every time he tried reaching out and stealing some food. Chris, on the other hand was sprawled on her stomach on his bed, her legs crossed in the air, her head stuck in a book.

"Hey that's my bed!" He tried admonishing her but she just shrugged and mumbled something that sounded like 'whatever' without bothering to move, so he gave up and headed for the food.

An hour later, after they all ate and drank to their heart's satisfaction – the real work started – research.

Even though they knew the "when" and "where" there were still several key pieces of the puzzle missing. For starts, they still had no idea what the ritual was supposed to do - and that un-answered question made them all very uneasy. Usually, demons didn't make very intricate plans – it was pretty much "kill a few humans, make people suffer, cause some trouble and have some demon fun" – but lately, things have begun to change. Just like the yellow eyed demon, these latest batch of hell spawns seemed to have a plan in place – a big plan, like "take over the world" kind of plan – and those kind of plans were never good!.

This is why the four of them spent the next several hours leafing through books or obscure texts, throwing around ideas and browsing the internet for demonic lore and myths – anything to try and figure out what the demons intentions were.

"Hey Sam, you said you saw five demons in your vision and they were standing in a circle and chanting then cutting their own throat, right?" Chris asked without lifting her head from the computer, but her tone told everyone that she finally found the breakthrough they had been looking for.

"Yeah, does that mean anything to you?" Sam got up from the floor and headed over to her, trying to peak over her shoulder at the screen

"Well it didn't before but it does now"

"Finally!" Dean let out a sigh of relief and threw aside one of the books he'd been examining. He hated doing research "So you know what this quest is about?"

"It's not a quest, it's a coronation, it's the demon world version of the freaking Miss America pageant, and the winner gets to be the big chief and lead the armies of evil in the up-coming war" Chris replied

"Take over where the yellow eyed demon left off…" Sam realized

"There's more" Chris warned "The ritual is pretty straight forward. Five demons drink from the chalice, recite some text and then basically cut their throat and die…"

"So far, that's the best ritual I've ever heard of" Dean smirked.

"Yeah, unfortunately one of the five demons doesn't stay dead. He gets a free pass out of hell and gets crowned king of the jungle." Sam supplied having quickly read the rest of the information off the screen.

"Ok, so here's the plan" Dean announced, the wheels in his head turning "We let the bastards finish their ritual and weed out the duds for us, then we go in and we only have one demon to worry about…"

He looked back at the others, expecting to get approval for his plan, but they were all looking at his as if he'd just sprouted another head.

"Are you kidding?" It was Jo who finally broke the silence.

"What? Why?"

"Because you've never fought a demon before! You have no idea what you're doing!" Jo nearly yelled

"Newsflash sweetheart! I've been doing this for a while!" Dean smirked back at her "I've fought quite a few demons…"

"No, what you've fought is the essence of a demon when it takes a human host." Jo explained slowly, as if she was talking to an idiot child "What we're talking about here is the real thing – full blown, flesh and blood, real demon. The thing could be six feet tall with wings and three fire-spitting heads…"

"3 heads… that would be kind of cool…" Dean quipped but quickly shut up when he saw Jo's glare

"We have no idea what we would be dealing with here. No one's faced a full blown demons in centuries. That thing could have the power to render us unconscious, breath out a plague…"

There was a moment of silence and then Chris leaned in, whispering "The plague?"

"Too much?" Jo whispered back

"Just a smidge" Chris retorted and Sam choked back a snicker at the exchange.

"Actually it was right on the money" Dean nodded at Jo and gave her a small smile "So no waiting for the big chief to be chosen! Got it! What's our plan B?"

Suddenly everyone became really really quiet.

After a few minutes of silence Jo mumbled something that Dean couldn't really make out. He turned and looked at her expectantly, making her fidget uncomfortably, until she repeated it "The Chalice. It's our only ace. We get the chalice and destroy it and they can't perform the ritual"

"And then we're only dealing with 5 really pissed of demons" Chris noted, earning herself angry glares from the rest of the group "I'm just saying…"


	9. Confrontations and Revelations

Sorry for the long wait - I really suck at the whole prompt updating thing I know! I hope you'll forgive me and bare with me for a little bit longer...

Enjoy this and as always - reviews are very welcom!

* * *

They stayed up until the small hours of the night debating and arguing possible plans. Finally, when it was clear that they were all getting to tiered to come up with anything remotely feasible they decided to brake for the night. Chris volunteered to take a drive out to Ebenezer before heading for bed just to make sure everything was quiet on that front, which Dean found kind of weird considering how tiered she seemed. Even stranger was the fact that when she asked Sam if he'd like to tag along for the ride his younger brother simply jumped at the opportunity and bolted out the door after Chris as if the room was being set on fire.

He heard an engine start and the screech of tiers as Chris's car pulled out of the parking lot, and turned around to see Jo collecting her things and basically doing everything and anything in her power to avoid making eye contact with him. He watched in silence for a while until she reached for the door, seemingly intent on leaving the room without saying a word to him.

He knew he should just let her go, that he should keep his mouth shut and no press the issue, that in time she'd understand and maybe even forgive him - but them again, Dean Winchester was never known for being able to watch his mouth or listen to logic.

"So this is how it's going to be from now on Jo?" He blurted out before he could stop himself "You're just going to give me the silent treatment?"

She froze then turned back to him with a glare that could melt ice in a second "That's rich coming for you Dean! You've been ignoring me all day! Even since Chris knocked on the door this morning you've been acting like I'm contagious or something…"

"Jo, I have a responsibility - Sammy is my responsibility…" He tried but she wouldn't even let him finish a sentence.

"Oh give it a rest Dean! Sam is a big boy! He can take care of himself without you holding his hand all the time!"

"You don't know what you're talking about…" He started. He was about to tell her about the last time he let his younger brother out of his sight - how he got there just in time to see him being killed. Only that story would just require a lot of further explanations that he just wasn't ready to give - so he opted for another way "I made a promise Jo! I promised my dad I would take care of Sam!"

"Fine" She threw her hands in the air in frustration "So you need to take care of Sam, I get it! What does that have to de with us? What does that have to do with the fact that you kissed me Dean?" Her voice suddenly took on a different tone, a pleading tone "And don't tell me it was nothing Dean. I was there, you wanted to be with me just as much as I wanted to be with you…"

The look in her eyes, that soft tone, was almost more than he can bear. He could handle anger, accusations… hell, he could even handle it if she just went ahead and slapped him - lord knows he deserved it. Suddenly he felt anger bubbling inside him - anger at the situation, anger at her for putting him on the spot like this…

"Don't you get it?" He yelled and she actually took a step back in surprise at his outburst "it's got everything to do with it! You're a distraction! A big freaking distraction! When you're around, I can't think straight, I can't focus, I can't think of protecting Sam because all I can think of is protecting you!!!"

He couldn't look at her, he didn't have the courage to life his head and look her in the eyes after his little emotional outburst. She didn't say anything for the longest time then, suddenly, he could feel her hand against his cheek, caressing, pulling him up to meet her gaze "Dean, it's ok, it's ok to want something for yourself, to need someone else and to care about someone other then Sam or your Dad. You've been conditioned all you life to put your family and the job above everything else, including yourself - but it doesn't have to be like that…"

She was so close to him, every muscle and fiber in his body was just screaming at him to take her in his arms, to give in to what he truly wanted and felt. It would be so easy, so simple, to not worry about anything other than what he wanted for a change. But he couldn't "I'm sorry Jo. I'm sorry."

She nodded silently. There was nothing left to say. He could tell that she was fighting back the urge to cry as she backed away from him and left the room, leaving him standing there, wishing that there was some way he could make this better.

* * *

"Sam, we need to talk about something" Chris said as soon as they some distance away from the motel and well on their way to Ebenezer. He could tell she had something on her mind even from before they got in the car, but was hesitant on the best way to broach the subject.

"Yeah" He smiled but kept his eyes on the road as he drove "I kind of got that from the way you volunteered to drive to Ebenezer in the middle of the night"

"It's about Dean, about his deal. I think this chalice can be the way to save him"

Without pause Sam swerved dangerously and directed the car to the shoulders of the road, turning in his seat to face her even before the car came to a full stop.

"How?"

"The chalice" She said once she recovered from the shock of his reckless driving style "Along with the right ritual this thing can bring someone back from her - anybody! Not just demons!"

"The demon said there would be no getting out of his deal. If Dean does anything to try and wiggle out of it - I die" Sam reminded her "You really think it could be this simple?"

"That's the beauty of it. Technically Dean won't be violating the deal. In order for us to use the chalice, he's gonna have to actually die first which completes the deal. The deal said she gets to take Dean to hell, it says nothing about him staying there after that. Whatever happens after the deal is complete is out of her hands. It's a perfect loophole."

"You're talking about actually letting my brother die?" Sam just couldn't his ears.

"Only for a little while!" Chris tried to rationalize it, trying to make him feel better. It was hardly doing the trick "But that's not our real problem here…"

"So letting my brother die isn't the weak point of this little plan?" Sam snarked, earning a glare from Chris.

"Trying to help here Sam. As per your request remember?" She reminded him pointedly. He took a deep breath and dropped the attitude, letting her continue "Even if we manage to get the chalice and that is a big 'if', there're still over ten months before Dean's deal happens and it's a pretty safe bet that the demons are going to try and get it back."

"And we can't destroy the damn thing until then…" Sam concluded.

He let out a big sigh, letting the information sink in, then started the car again and made a quick u-turn, heading back the way they came.

"Sam, what about Ebenezer?"

"There's nothing there" He said determinately "We need to talk to Dean about this!"

* * *

"No! No! No! No! No!" Dean was pacing the room like a lion trapped in a cage, his anger spurring him on, in spite of his tiredness and the late hour. Sam just watched him with a grim expression having been expecting this reaction from his older brother since Chris first told him about her plan. "Are you crazy Sammy? What in the world are you thinking?"

Sam opened his mouth to answer but Dean already turned and started directing his anger at Chris "This was your bright idea wasn't it? Who do you think you are, putting these kind of ideas into his head?"

Sam had to give Chris credit - the girl didn't seem to be rattled by his brother's fury "I'm the girl helping your brother find a way to save you!" He tone was defiant, daring Dean to get in her face again, which of course he did.

"I don't need saving!"

"So you want to die? Is that it Dean?" Sam yelled, his frustration finally reaching a boiling point "Is that what's supposed to happen? I'm just supposed to let you die?"

"That's the deal Sam!" Dean bellowed.

"Well, the hell with the deal! I told you I'm going to save you from this! This is what's going to happen!" Sam yelled back.

"Over my dead body!"

"Exactly!"

"Guys?" a new voice made them all jump and turn to the doorway to find Jo standing there, looking like she was just roused from her bed "You're waking up the whole damn motel! What's going on here?"

Dean shot Sam a warning look but by this point Sam didn't care anymore. He was tiered of Dean's avoidance tactics and lies "Tell her Dean! Tell her how you made a deal with a crossroads demon to save my life! Tell her how you're going to die in one year and you won't lift a finger to change that!"

"Sam!" Chris reached over and grabbed his arm to stop him, but it was already too late. Jo stood there in the doorway, her mouth agape in horror. She looked at Dean, the look in her eyes pleading with him to say something, anything that would tell her that it wasn't true, but the way her avoided her eyes told her everything she needed to know.

She chocked back a sob and fled back to the other room. Chris glanced back at Sam and Dean with a sad look, then quietly left to go after her friend.

Sam turned to Dean, all his anger depleted, leaving only cold determination "Look Dean, you think it's no big deal if you die? You don't want to do anything to get out of this deal? I get it, it's fine. Don't do this for yourself. Do it for Jo, and for Ellen and for Bobby, Do it for me. Hell, do it for Chris even. Cause neither one of us is going to just sit back and let you die!"

With that, he turned around and left the room.


	10. Tag teams

**Hello Everyone, First off - I just want to say I'm really sorry for not updating for like forever but I was studying for the Bar exam (yes, yes, I'm now officialy a lawyer - I know, I going straight to hell) and I hardly had time to breath let alone write, plus - when you're spending 12 hours a day studying dry law books - it doesn't really get the creative juices flowing if you know what I mean.**

**Any way - I'm back now and I'm working really hard to get all my stories updated as soon as possible so don't give up on me just yet! **

**Hope you enjoy this and don't forget to review and tell me what you think.. I'm a little rusty after not writing a word for over 2 and a half months so I would really welcome some feedback**

Sam ended up sitting alone on one of the plastic chairs in the pool area. He thought about taking a drive but the keys were back in the room with Dean and he didn't feel like going back in there and give Dean a chance to pick a fight about his precious car and deflect the focus away from the real issue. After a while Chris came out of the girl's room and quietly joined him.

"How's Jo?"

"Pissed as hell. By the way, that was a real bush league move back there Sam, letting her find out about Dean like this…"

"I know I'm sorry." He really was. He never meant for Jo to get caught up in all of this. Then again - if there was even a small chance that Jo finding out would shake Dean enough to make him take action - it might all be worth it "I don't blame her for being pissed, Dean can be a real jerk…"

"Right now she's more pissed off at me to worry about him…" Chris cut him off

"Why you? You were never a part of this, you just found out a couple of days ago yourself…"

"She knows you and Dean, she knows how you two are when it comes to your secrets. But I'm her friend, and I didn't tell her. Don't worry, though. She'll get around to being pissed at the both of you soon."

They kept quiet for a while after that. Both of them lost in their own thoughts. Eventually she let out a big sigh and got up from her chair "Are you going to stay out here all night?"

"The dramatic exit doesn't have the same affect if you come crawling back" Sam quipped as Chris reached a hand to help him to his feet. Somehow when he unfolded himself to his full length he found himself standing awfully close to Chris. The smell of her perfume was thick in his nostrils and he could fell he breath on his neck. Suddenly the feel of her hand still holding his from when she helped him up seemed somehow more significant, more palpable. Like that hand had more meaning. He liked her, he knew it from the moment he'd first met her. There was a connection between them that he just couldn't overlook or ignore. It had been a while since he'd felt this way about someone - Sarah, maybe, if they had been given more time. Melody, perhaps though he always felt that had more to do with physical attraction. Even with Jesse, though he loved her with all his heart, there was always a wall between them where his past and his family were concerned. The fact was, that he always had to hide a part of himself from her (although it only recently dawned on him that this life was in fact a part of him as much as anything else).

He was internally debating whether or not to act on his impulse and kiss her when she broke contact and stepped away. One look at her face showed him that she knew exactly what he was thinking about and the small smile playing on her lips told him that this wasn't a rejection - merely a postponement.

"It's been a really long day, and we still haven't figured out how to beat the demons. We should get some sleep."

With that, she took his hand and led him to the girl's room.

* * *

Sam didn't come back to their room that night, and after about half an hour of pacing the length of the room like a caged animal in an attempt to release some of his anger, Dean got bored and mopy. He thought for a second about going out and finding his younger brother, give him the stern tongue lashing he so richly deserved, but he feared going out of the room will lead to a chance meeting with Jo and he had no idea what he would tell her if that happened.

He ended up spending most of the time skulking and flipping channels on the TV, watching bad game-shows (like there was really such a thing as a good game-show) and re-runs of bad WWF wrestling matches. Sam strolled into the room at about noon. He showered and changed without saying word and the four of them went to the diner across the road for lunch. They didn't talk about the chalice again, or about Dean's approaching death. In fact, they hardly spoke at all. Sam looked pissed and irritated, Jo's eyes were puffy and he lips pinched in the way that indicated annoyance, Chris just looked drained. Dean himself was switching between feeling righteous indignation and apologetic so fast it was starting to give him a headache. It wasn't much wonder then, when the waitress took one look at their faces and abandoned the cheery small talk, opting to simply take their order and flee.

"So I'm thinking I have a plan" Dean finally broke the silence. No matter how fucked up things were right now - they still had a job to do. The idea occurred to him during the night while he was watching one of those wrestling matches and he figured since they couldn't come up with anything better - they might as well give it a shot "I figure we tag team the bastards. There're four of us. Three of us go in and distract them, one sneaks in from the back and grabs the chalice thingy. Once we have it we make sure they see us passing it around a few times, then split up. Two teams, opposite directions. They can't know for sure which one of us has it - they have to come after us all. They have to split up and we have a better chance of fighting two demons then we have fighting five.

"Sounds good" Sam finally admitted after a long silence and the girls nodded they're agreement after another moment's pause. "Do I want to know how you came up with this idea?"

"late night TNA wrestling" Dean explained, earning an involuntary chuckle from his brother, then kept laying out his plan, encouraged by their approval "So two teams, I figure me and Jo, Sam and Chris..."

"Actually" Chris interjected "Sam and I are better with the whole Latin chanting thing - I'm thinking it would be better if there was one of us in each team just in case we need to perform an exorcism"

"I'm not sending you girls on your own" Dean protested. He expected to receive a death glare from Chris and Jo but instead, Chris gave him a sweet smile and he suddenly realized he'd played right into her hands. He thought if he made sure the chalice ended up in his hands he'd have a better chance strong arming Jo into destroying the damn thing than he would Chris or his brother.

"Of course not" Chris smirked at him "Sam will go with Jo, and it looks like you and I are partners..."

She had him and she knew it. There was no way he could argue her on this point without bringing up yesterday's fight and the subject of his deal - and they both knew it.

"Sounds like a good idea..." Sam said in fake cheerfulness

"Fine..." Dean relented, then decided to make one more last ditch attempt "then you three go in and I sneak up the back and snatch the chalice"

"No" This time it was Jo who stood up to him and after meeting her steely gaze he had to wonder what ever made him think that by partnering up with her he'd be able to get his way "They know you and Sam, they'll expect you to show up together. Sam shows up without you and they'll know we're up to something, I'll do it!"

"Fine" Sam was having a hard time hiding the slight curving of his lips.

"Fine" Chris echoed

"Fine" Dean grumbled, knowing he had no more cards to play. He got up and threw some money on the table to cover his meal, before heading out.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sam called out after him.

"Supplies. If we're going to go after five demons we're going to need some more fire power..."

* * *


	11. The fight

**Well, It took a while but here it is… the final chapter of this story!**

**I decided to split this story into two, maybe even three – like a trilogy or something – and this is the last chapter of book 1 (so to speak)**

**Hope you like it and even more so – I hope you review.**

**The second story will be posted in a few days, a week at the most, because the first few chapters are already written – so be sure to look for it!**

* * *

Everything started according to the plan. He hid in the bushes along with Sam and Chris and watched as the five demons arrived one by one and entered the church. Three male hosts, two females. Once they were sure all five were inside and that there were no stragglers, the three of them ran over and busted through the front door.

The five demons were standing in a circle around the alter, each holding a knife in their hands, chanting in a foreign language with their eyes closed and their heads tilted back.

"I'm really sorry" Dean quipped as soon as all eyes were on them "Hey Sammy, you think we're crashing a party here or something?"

"Well, well, well, the Winchester boys!" One of the women greeted with a snarl "And you've brought a little friend along!" She indicated at Chris "How adorable!"

"More like how stupid!" A man who was at least a head taller than even Sam and twice as wide, took a step towards them "five of us, three of you – you really thought you can take us? Now I know your daddy taught you better than that!"

"Oh, don't worry! Pretty soon you're going to get a live demonstration of just what my daddy thought us!" Dean shot back drawing out a gun from under his jacket. From he corner of his eye he could see Sam do the same.

The demon in front of him, the tall one, burst into laughter "A water pistol? Is this a joke?"

"Well, this thing won't hurt normal people much but when you fill them up with holly water – they can be pretty affective against you bastards" Dean smirked.

"And if that doesn't slow you down, maybe this will" Chris quipped, pulling out a gun in her right hand and a sawed off barrel shotgun in the other, pointing them both at the demons.

They continued the banter and taunting for as long as they could, trying to keep the demons attention on them and allow Jo to make her progress in the shadows in the back of the room. If the demons found it odd that the three of them had not yet attacked – none of them did anything about it.

There was an instant pause, the calm before the storm, and then all hell broke loose.

Two of the demons lunged at Dean but one of them had to pull back and hiss in pain when Dean sprayed him with holy water. He managed to get a glimpse of Chris flying across the room and landing in a thud before another demon rushed him and tackled him to the ground. He struggled with the demon for a moment until the thing suddenly howled and recoiled from the blow of a rock salt shot hitting it one the side of it's head. Dean made a mental note to thank Chris for that later and jumped back to his feet, spraying the demons near him with holy water. He glanced back and saw Sam being pushed back into a corner by two demons. He turned, grabbed the salt rock gun from Chris's hand, and shot the two demons in the back in one swift move. Once he saw Sam was out of immediate danger he turned back to his own attackers – just in time to see Jo make her move. She lunged over from her hiding place with a perfect jump, tuck and roll that would have put to shame even the best of Olympic contestants, then made a mad dash to the alter where the Chalice still stood. She grabbed the thing and managed to duck under the arms of the only demon who noticed her actions so far, but his grunt of anger drew the attention of the others. Within a second she was thrown into a wall by one of the demons. She crumpled to the floor but before any of the demons could come near her she threw the chalice across the room in Sam's direction. The Chalice landed on the floor and rolled right at the feet of the demon currently fighting Sam. The demon bent down to pick it up but Sam kicked him hard and sent him staggering backwards, then bent down and picked up the chalice himself.

"I've got it! Go! Go! Go!" He yelled and the others scrambled and followed him as he headed out the door, all of them sending shots behind them at the demons as they made their escape.

At the stairs of the church Dean stopped and tossed the Chalice over to Chris, making sure to do it in full view of the demons pursuing them. Dean turned around mid-step to fire some shots at the demons and barely missed getting hit by the Chalice as it flew from Chris's hands over to Jo's.

A quick situation assessment told Dean that the demons were getting closer and they were also running out of ammunition. He made a quick decision and yelled "Ok, we go now!"

With a last look at his brother, Dean grabbed Chris's arm and started running while Sam and Jo headed in the other direction. He and Chris ran into the forest and started ducking between the trees, they could hear the demons behind them giving chase, from the sound of it two or three of them – but not all five.

Dean grabbed Chris's arm again and practically dragged her further along. They ran for what seemed like forever, Dean got a cut on his cheek for a loose branch, he could feel the blood running down the side of his face but he just kept on running.

"Are we even going in the right direction?" Chris stopped and bent over, placing her hands on her knees, panting hard and trying to steady her breathing.

"Of course we are" He replied curtly and pushed them both behind a large tree for cover. When she gave him a dubious look he tried again "I'm positive…I think…"

Suddenly he heard the demons again, their voices getting closer and closer "We need to keep going"

Chris nodded and the two of them kept running through the forest.

Finally they reached their destination – an abandoned, only partially standing, cabin on what used to be the outer outskirts of Ebenezer. They paused and waited to make sure the demons would see them entering the cabin. Once inside, Dean headed straight for the bag they previously hid in the corner of the room and restocked, throwing Chris some ammunition so she could do the same, then the two of them his behind some rubble and waited.

A few moments passed before they heard the demons talking outside, then some footsteps entering the cabin. Dean peaked behind a wooden beam. From his vantage point he could only see the demons shoes, then he heard a rustle outside and dove back into his hiding place.

"Fuck, Only one bite – second demon's still outside!" He whispered to Chris. It took him a minute to formulate a plan, then he turned back to Chris "You handle this guy, I'll lead the other one in circles until you're done exorcising him then we both take care of the other one"

He saw Chris open her mouth to try and protest, but he didn't give her a chance to say anything and snuck outside before she could stop him.

She cursed silently then moved closer to the edge of her hiding place to peak at the demon who was still searching the cabin. She waited until the demon stepped into the exact spot she was hoping for then stepped out and pointed her gun at it.

"Well, good!" The female demon said with a wide smile "I was hoping we wouldn't have to continue this hide and seek game the whole night long"

"No, no more games" Chris smiled still pointing her gun at the demon. The demon made a move to advance towards her but stopped when she realized she couldn't come any closer. Chris just smiled as the demon looked up and saw the trap painted on the ceiling. She calmly took out a notebook from the inside pocket of her jacket and started reciting the exorcism ritual.

Meanwhile, Dean ran aimlessly through the forest, making as much noise as he could, careful not to loose his bearings and get lost. He stopped every now and then to listen and make sure the last demon was still behind him. All he had to do was buy some time. They hoped the demons would enter the Solomon's circle together – but apparently they weren't that lucky, so now he had to make sure the demon wouldn't get a chance to figure out that Chris was currently exorcizing his friend and try to stop her.

Finally he heard the familiar scream coming from the direction of the cabin indicating that Chris managed to finish the ritual successfully. He turned around to head back but was caught by surprise when the final demon jumped at him from behind a tree and tackled him to the ground. He raised his gun but the demon made it fly out of his hand and into a nearby bush with a simple flick of his wrist. He heard Chris calling out from him in the distance and managed a muffled cry for help before the demon started pounding on him, pummeling blow after painful blow to his face and chest. He struggled and managed to get in a few blows of his own but the demon was still on top of him, making it harder and harder to breath. He could feel himself getting weaker and weaker by the moment.

Then, he heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun being cocked and a shot being fired. The demon howled in pain and rolled off him to the ground. The sudden rush of air to his lungs made him dizzy for a second and he accepted Chris's arm to help him get back to his feet and the handgun she thrust into his palm.

That's when it happened. In his mind, it seemed like the whole thing happened in slow motion but un reality it only took a split second. His back was to the demon, which is why he didn't see the bastard stagger away and pick up the gun Dean lost earlier in the fight. He heard the metallic sound of the safety being taken off but before he could turn around, Chris pushed him away and he fell to the ground. He instinctively rolled over as he heard the shot go off, facing the demon and empting the entire clip into it's body, watching as it fell to the ground and died.

Then everything was quiet.

"Chris! Chris!" He was still holding his position, lying on the ground with his gun aimed at the vacant spot where the demon once stood.

"Chris?" He called out again.

But all he heard was silence.


End file.
